Adapting to Climate Change
Adapt To Change?
We know global warming is bad: The temperature of the air on the Earth’s surface is projected to increase at a rate more rapid than any temperature change that has taken place in the last ten thousand years.
Since species have adapted to climate change in the past, why can’t they simply adapt to these changes?
Thanks to ecosystem changes due to agriculture and deforestation and pollution, many species are already weakened to begin with. Plus, in the past, climate change has happened slowly enough that many species had enough time to shift the locations where they grow and reproduce. But the current projected rate of surface temperature change would require for plants to move at a rate of 3.5 miles per year. (The fastest plant species only migrate at the rate of 1.3 miles a year.)
Adapt To Change?
We know global warming is bad: The temperature of the air on the Earth’s surface is projected to increase at a rate more rapid than any temperature change that has taken place in the last ten thousand years.
Since species have adapted to climate change in the past, why can’t they simply adapt to these changes?
Thanks to ecosystem changes due to agriculture and deforestation and pollution, many species are already weakened to begin with. Plus, in the past, climate change has happened slowly enough that many species had enough time to shift the locations where they grow and reproduce. But the current projected rate of surface temperature change would require for plants to move at a rate of 3.5 miles per year. (The fastest plant species only migrate at the rate of 1.3 miles a year.)